Third Time's The Charm for Detroit

Detroit mounted a comeback to beat St. Louis 3-2 for the first time in three tries this season.

1st Period: The Red Wings seemed tired after last night's game in Nashville and were unable to create any sustained pressure in the Blues' zone. They were badly beaten in the faceoff circle and St. Louis' tough defense forced them to shoot from the outside. Matt D'Agostini scored on a deflection off a blast by Kevin Shattenkirk on the power play to open up the scoring. The Wings were unable to respond quickly and only played well in the final five minutes of the period.

2nd Period: Detroit came out harder than in the first but were lackluster on their first power play opportunity which didn't come until halfway through the game. The Zetterberg line played the best during the second but came away empty handed. The Blues struck again at 13:08 on a questionable power play goal from Alex Steen. The referee was slow on the whistle and Steen poked the puck in, drawing a shower of boos from the JLA crowd. As the second intermission neared, Matt D'Agostini took an interference penalty and Captain Lidstrom made him pay. Lidstrom scored from the point with assists by Datsyuk and White to shift the momentum to Detroit with a late goal.

3rd Period: St. Louis outshot Detroit 28-19 over the first two periods but Detroit carried the play the entire third with a 13-3 shot differential. The Red Wings came out strong and dominated St. Louis but were unable to get anything past Brian Elliott until 11:19 in when Pavel Datysuk tipped in a pass from Ian White to tie it up. The game didn't remain tied long with Kronwall scoring 56 seconds later to put Detroit up for good. The Wings remained resilient and were able to hold on to the lead due to some timely saves from Jimmy Howard for his league-leading 22nd win.

The win was Detroit's 11th straight at home and came on the 32nd anniversary of Detroit's first game at Joe Louis Arena. The Wings' play improved gradually over the course of the game and some of the Wings' top guns provided a surge to overcome a 2-0 deficit. St. Louis was dejected at giving up their lead after two strong periods but this shows how difficult a team they are for Detroit to match up against.

Joakim Andersson played 5:10 in his NHL debut for Detroit and made history as the first Red Wing to wear a jersey number in the 60s. He donned 63 as he played on the fourth line with Justin Abdelkader and Cory Emmerton. Andersson didn't look out of place, skating and playing strong and with poise in his limited time.

Detroit's next game is in Chicago Friday night. Be sure to follow TCL Red Wings on Facebook and Twitter for continued Wings coverage.

Comments

Really awesome game! Definitely a third period game for Detroit, which is not necessarily a great thing but they pulled it off so I was happy! Great goals scored by Lidstrom, Datsyuk, and Kronwall. Happy to see Lidstrom get one, he hasn't score in a little while. Hope we can play just as well in Chicago! Go Wings!